SPRING/SUMMER 2019

CELEBRATING A CENTURY OF EXCELLENCE AT THE GROVE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Research News THE CIT Y COLLEGE OF NEW YORK

FACULTY SUCCESS PROPELLING GROVE SCHOOL FORWARD

Grove School Dean Gilda Barabino Elected to National Academy of Engineering

Gilda Barabino, Daniel and Frances Berg Professor and dean of The Grove School
of Engineering, was elected into the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one
of the highest professional honors accorded to an engineer. Cited by the NAE for
her "leadership in bioengineering research and inclusive models of bioengineering
education and faculty mentoring" she is now one of only six African-American
women to hold the distinction.

Dean Barabino was also selected for inclusion in Crain’s inaugural Notable Women
in Tech list and as recipient of the 2019 AIChE Award for Service to Society. She is
recognized for her approach in using engineering principles to solve medical issues
that include disease therapies and tackling health disparities, as well as for her
leadership in advancing the engineering profession. She is also noted for her career-
long efforts and transformative impact to broaden participation in the engineering
fields and professoriate through advocacy, mentorship and professional development
of underrepresented minority students and faculty.

Dr. Charles Vörösmarty Receives Hungarian Order of Merit

Civil Engineering Professor and Director of CUNY Environmental Crossroads Initiative
Charles J. Vörösmarty received the Hungarian Order of the Merit from Visiting
Hungarian President János Áde. He was presented the Civilian Class Commander’s
Cross, the country’s second highest honor, at Hungary’s Consulate General in
Manhattan. Dr. Vörösmarty was recognized for promoting the international academic
cooperation and reputation of Hungary through his research accomplishments in
solving global sustainable water management issues. He is spearheading efforts to
develop global-scale indicators of water stress to develop and apply databases of
reservoir construction worldwide and to analyze coastal zone risks associated with
water diversion. In Hungary, Dr. Vörösmarty is hailed for opening doors for numerous
Hungarian students, lecturers and researchers in the United States. He has facilitated
access for researchers to cutting edge technology using space-remote sensing and
computer systems in joint research projects. He is also working on regional, sustainable
redevelopment planning efforts in western Hungary.

1 | Phone: 212-650-5435 | Email: grove@ccny.cuny.edu

160 Convent Avenue, Steinman Hall, New York, NY 10031
Two Grove School Professors Receive Prestigious NSF Career Awards
Drs. Robert Messinger and Ahmed Mohamed of the Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments,
respectively, received the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program
awards. The NSF CAREER Program is the most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty who have the
potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their
department or organization. Each was awarded approximately $500,000 to pursue their work.

Dr. Messinger’s proposal, entitled “Design and Understanding up from the

Atomic Scale of Multivalent Intercalation Electrodes for High-Energy-Density
Rechargeable Batteries”, aims to establish and validate molecular-level design
principles aimed at realizing next-generation aluminum-ion and zinc-ion battery
electrodes, laying the scientific groundwork for researchers to develop high-
energy-density, non-flammable rechargeable batteries composed of low-cost,
earth abundant elements. Dr. Messinger also looks to establish two annual
summer workshops: a “Battery Bootcamp” for New York high school chemistry
teachers, as well as a “CUNY School of NMR” for graduate engineering and science students at The City
University of New York.

Dr. Mohamed’s proposal, entitled “A Hybrid Physics-Based/Data-Driven

Modeling and Mitigation Approach for Interdependencies Between the Electric
Power, ICT, and Transportation Critical Infrastructures”, seeks to reduce the
operational cost of infrastructures, which will decrease the likelihood and impact
of blackouts, and improve cities’ responses to major disturbances. CUNY students
and neighboring high schools will have the opportunity to participate in his
research.

GROVE SCHOOL PROGRESS

Grove School Research Helps CCNY Earn Dr. Ardie Walser Awarded CUNY
Carnegie Distinction of “High Research Alumni Award
Doctoral University”
Dr. Ardie Walser,
In the latest distinction for the Professor, Electrical
institution, The City College of Engineering, and
New York is now classified in Associate Dean for
the “Doctoral Universities: High Academic Affairs,
Research”category by The Carnegie recently received the
Classification of Institutions of CUNY Alumni Award
Higher Education ®. The Carnegie from the CUNY
Classification has been the leading framework for Graduate Center.
recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. The award honors
higher education for the past four and a half decades. alumni who have devoted their professional
Derived from empirical data on colleges and universities, careers to teaching and working for The
the Carnegie Classification was originally published in 1973, City University of New York. Dr. Walser was
and is updated regularly to reflect changes among colleges recognized for his achievements in improving
and universities. This framework has been widely used in the diversity in the field of engineering. Dr.
study of higher education, both as a way to represent and Walser received his PhD degree in 1991 and
control for institutional differences, and also in the design rose through the ranks in the Grove School
of research studies to ensure adequate representation of of Engineering where he now serves as an
sampled institutions, students, or faculty. Associate Dean.

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 GROVE SCHOOL AND TECH

CUNY 2X Tech at City College

City College was awarded $2.3 million as part of CUNY 2X Tech, a five-
year program that connects NYC tech employers to computer science and
engineering students at CUNY senior colleges. As part of the NYC Tech
Talent Pipeline Program, the initiative aims to double the number of CUNY
students graduating with tech-related bachelor’s degrees by 2022. The
program has thus far enrolled over 600 CUNY students in courses taught
by industry professionals on emerging skills, including artificial intelligence
and software engineering. Unique to CCNY, the Computer Science co-op
program is a two-semester long program designed to deliver qualified tech
talent to local employers, as well as short-term professional opportunities to competitive NYC undergraduates.
Students who take advantage of the co-op opportunities can earn up to nine credits while interning, and the
program gathers valuable feedback from host businesses to better align tech education with the workforce needs
of New York City employers. The launch of the CUNY 2X Tech program builds an important partnership with
industry that will further help students launch successful careers in the NYC tech ecosystem.

Dr. Rosario Gennaro Teaches Everything You Wanted to Know about Bitcoin
Dr. Rosario Gennaro, Professor of Computer Science, was featured on
CUNY TV’s Science Goes to Movies, discussing “Everything you Need to
Know about Bitcoin”. He explains the complicated crypto-currency, and
how to use it during screenplay. Dr. Gennaro’s research at City College
focuses on cryptography and network security. His most recent work
addresses the security of cloud computing infrastructure, the issues of
privacy and anonymity in electrical security, and proactive security to
minimize the effects of system break-ins.

Grove School Collaboration with Kyutech Receives National Science

Foundation Grant
The City College of New York’s Grove School of Engineering and
Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) are working
together on a unique project to make the future internet more secure
and resilient. A joint team from the two schools recently received
a $450,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to fund their
newest project: “JUNO2: Resilient Edge Cloud Designed Networks”.
The initiative aims to define the future of the internet by working to
enable trustworthy networks supporting the Internet of Things (IoT)
and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). The IoT encompasses everything
associated with the internet, and the CPS is a mechanism controlled
by computer-based algorithms. The joint CCNY-Kyutech team
includes professors and students at the PhD, graduate and undergraduate levels from both schools. Dr. Tarek
Saadawi, Professor, Electrical Engineering (EE), is the principal investigator from the Grove School. Other faculty
involved are Drs. Akira Kawaguchi of the Computer Science Department (CSC), Myung Lee of the EE Department
and Abbe Mowshowitz from the CSC Department. The Grove School partners will be visiting Kyutech in early
September.

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 INSPIRING AND EMPOWERING UPCOMING ENGINEERS
Dr. Rosemarie Wesson
Featured in AIChE’s
Film on Inspiring and
Empowering Women
in Engineering
Professor of Chemical
Engineering, and Associate
Dean for Research, Dr.
Rosemarie Wesson was
featured in the American
Institute of Chemical
Engineers’ film on inspiring
and empowering women
in Engineering. Dr. Wesson
spoke of the necessity of
diverse identities, experiences,
and perspectives in solving
engineering problems. The
film premiered at AIChE’s
2018 Gala on December
2018 where a five-million-
dollar initiative All for Good:
Engineering for Inclusion
was announced. Dr. Wesson
recently concluded her three-
year term on the AIChE Board
of Directors and previously
received the 2014 Minority
Action Committee Eminent
Chemical Engineers Award
for outstanding contributions
to the minority chemical
engineering community. She is
the current sitting Treasurer for
the AIChE, noted for being the
first woman to occupy the role.
High School Students Mentored by Grove School
Faculty Become Regeneron Semi-Finalists
The high school mentees of two Grove School
researchers advanced to the semi-finals of the
Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) 2019
Competition. Dr. Krish Ramalingam's Civil
Engineering project was: Optimization of Thermal
Hydrolysis for Increased Biogas Generation in
Wastewater Treatment. Dr. Yiannis Andreopoulos's
Mechanical Engineering project was: Varying
Aspect Ratios of Self-Sustaining Pizeoelectric Energy
Harvesters. The high school students received an
individual award of $2,000, and their school received
$2,000 per scholar to use toward STEM-related
activities. Regeneron STS is among the nation’s most
prestigious competitions for high school seniors.
CCNY’s STEM Institute Receives $1M Boost from
Council Member Rodriguez with Support from
Mayor’s Office
New York City Council
Member Ydanis
Rodriguez, with the
support of NYC Mayor
Bill de Blasio and
Speaker Corey Johnson,
secured a one million
dollar grant to fund The
City College of New
York’s STEM Institute’s
partnership with
Northern Manhattan.
The funding will be used to open an afterschool program at George
Washington Educational Campus while expanding students’ opportunities
to participate in summer and Saturday programs on CCNY’s campus.
The goal of the Institute is to prepare high school students, particularly
women and underrepresented minorities, to successfully pursue college
majors in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. CCNY’s
Senior Associate Provost, Dr. Doris Cintron, who leads a number of STEM
educational efforts at the college, was instrumental in planning and
implementing the STEM Institute expansion into Northern Manhattan
schools. Dr. Joseph Barba, Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Director
of the STEM Institute, is working with principals of local schools to build
a robust and leveled STEM curriculum for the after-school program. Parts
of the program will be formatted for English-Language Learners (ELL), to
allow offerings to expand to a more diverse community.
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 WORKING TOWARD SUSTAINABLE FUTURES

Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Joins Global Resource Initiative

Dr. Ahmed Mohamed, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, received a $374,701
NSF grant to join an interdisciplinary project on global food, water, and energy
resource security. The grant helps to support U.S. researchers participating in the
project, who are competitively selected by a 29-country initiative through the joint
Belmont Forum-Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe. This joint initiative has,
in turn, established the Sustainable Urbanization Global Initiative (SUGI)/Food-
Water-Energy (FWE) Nexus to bring together the fragmented research and expertise
across the globe on finding innovative solutions to the FWE nexus challenge. SUGI
seeks to develop more resilient, applied urban solutions to benefit a much wider
range of stakeholders. The rapid urbanization of the world’s population underscores
the importance of this focus. The project seeks to develop a shared urban data and
modeling framework to help cities analyze and characterize FWE systems and nexus
interrelationships. The framework will utilize a common urban 3D data model that will be shaped by urban
stakeholder requirements and be applicable to regions and cities in Europe and the United States.

Dr. Nir Y. Krakauer Achieves Breakthrough in Dr. Naresh Devineni

Monsoon Research Appointed to US CLIVAR
Panel
Dr. Nir Y. Krakauer, NOAA CREST
Associate Professor of Civil Engineering,
achieved significant breakthroughs in
research on monsoons. With an average
precipitation of 35 inches per four-month
season over an area encompassing most
of the Indian subcontinent, the South
Asian summer monsoon is intense, only
partly understood, and notoriously difficult to predict. A frequent Dr. Naresh Devineni, Associate
visitor to the region, Dr. Krakauer has devised a methodology that Professor of Civil Engineering, was
allows for forecasts potentially up to a year in advance. His research selected to serve a four-year term as
is of importance to a range of activities, including agriculture, one of 12 experts on the US Climate
industry, fishing and hydropower. Unlike other forecasters who Variability and Predictability Program
use only the sea surface temperature readings from neighboring (CLIVAR), Predication and Application
waters, Dr. Krakauer looked at the predictive potential of all Interface Panel. CLIVAR is a national
the common patterns in the sea surface temperature map. He research program that aims to
developed prediction methods using global sea surface temperature foster understanding and prediction
and monsoon precipitation data from between 1901 to 1996, and of climate variability. The Panel
tested the performance of his prediction methods on data from contributes research to national and
1997-2017. He found that, generally, the forecasts based on sea global organizations and Dr. Devineni
surface temperature are more accurate when closer to the beginning was chosen by the Scientific Steering
of the monsoon season, but predictions with some accuracy can Committee, which annually selects new
be made as far as a year in advance. Getting a better sense of how experts. Panelists review, prioritize,
much water will be available is particularly important given that the and coordinate US research plans to
rainfall is growing more intense in South Asia while the total amount understand predictability of the oceans
remains constant, meaning that more rain is falling in a shorter and climate on various timescales,
period. Entitled “Year-ahead Predictability of South Asian Summer while advising on research gaps,
Monsoon Precipitation”. Dr. Krakauer’s research appears in the advocating for new opportunities and
journal “Environmental Research Letters”. coordinating with communities.

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CCNY Researchers Project Climate Change in New York City

Drs. Jorge E. Gonzalez, NOAA CREST Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Naresh Devineni, Associate Professor
of Civil Engineering, and James Booth, Assistant Professor of Earth & Atmospheric Science, contributed to a
major report addressing climate change in New York City. The team authored the report’s second chapter that
focused primarily on climate science. The project found that New Yorkers can brace for more frequent and intense
heatwaves, higher humidity, greater periods of rainfall in the summer, and less frequent “extreme days,” or cold
snaps. The study was presented to the Mayor’s Office of Recovery & Resiliency for planning and investment
purposes as part of the New York Panel on Climate Change (NPCC), which has analyzed climate change since
2008. CCNY’s contribution to the report is based on nearly four years of research. City College students mentored
by Drs. Gonzalez and Devineni also participated in the study.

Dr. Marco Castaldi Provides Research Expertise in Upstate New York

Dr. Marco J. Castaldi, Professor of
Chemical Engineering, was recruited
to provide an expert opinion on the
Wheelabrator plant in Hudson Falls,
New York, that converts Municipal Solid
Waste (MSW) to energy. Environmental
advocates pushed for the passing of
legislation that would effectively close the
plant due to unfounded concerns about
health and air quality issues. Dr. Castaldi
provided facts that demonstrate those
concerns do not have merit. He reminded
the city that treating MSW with waste to energy facilities is always better than using a landfill and is widely used
worldwide which was the city’s intent. Dr. Castaldi is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
(AIChE), the Fulbright Commission and was recently elected a Fellow to the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME).

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 ACHIEVEMENTS IN HEALTH RESEARCH

Dr. Jacek Dmochowski Awarded NIH and TRISH Grants for Brain Research
Dr. Jacek Dmochowski, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, recently received two
major grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Translational Research
Institute for Space Health (TRISH), in partnership with NASA for his research aimed at
treating mental disorders as well as physical and mental wellness during deep space
exploration missions with the use of ultrasound and lasers to stimulate the brain. The
$800,000, two-year TRISH grant will allow Dr. Dmochowski to test the possibility of
using lasers to increase energy metabolism in the brain, and the $300,000 NIH grant will
be in utilized in collaboration with his mentor Elisa Kongafu at Columbia University. Dr.
Dmochowski’s research is particularly interested in targeting the pattern of brain waves
that have been shown to be modified during disorders such as schizophrenia, depression,
and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Targeting these patterns could alter symptoms. The major advantage of brain
stimulation versus medication is that it can be applied just to one area of the brain, as opposed to drugs, which
are generally taken orally and then delivered to all parts of the nervous system, causing unwanted side effects.

Research in Dr. Lucas C. Parra’s Lab Shows How Music Captivates Listeners and
Synchronizes their Brainwaves
Dr. Lucas C. Parra, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, with
the help of Dr. Jens Madsen, led a revolutionary study in
understanding neural responses to music by measuring the
synchronization of brainwaves in an audience. When a listener is
engaged with music, their neural responses are in sync with that
of other listeners, thus inter-subject correlation of brainwaves is
a measure of engagement. According to their findings, published
in the latest issue of “Scientific Reports”, a listener’s engagement
decreases with repetition of music. However, unfamiliar musical styles can sustain an audience’s interest, in
particular for individuals with some musical training. This distinguishes music from other domains, where interest
consistently drops with repetition. Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis and Rhimmon Simchy-Gross, both from the
University of Arkansas, were among the other researchers. The study involved 60 graduate and undergraduate
students from CCNY and the University of Arkansas.

Cancer Recurrence Study Earns Dr. David Rumschitzki Fulbright Award

Dr. David S. Rumschitzki, Professor of Chemical Engineering is the recipient of a 2019-
2020 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant for his proposal “Theory & Experiment for Breast
Cancer Dormancy & Recurrence". The study aims to delay or avoid recurrence of cancers
by studying the mechanism that drives it. The Fulbright will support Dr. Rumschitzki’s
work at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion in Haifa, Israel, where
skin and breast cancers are disproportionately present. His model predicts a surprising
diffusive behavior in tumor-size space that contributes to the generation of dormancy
and tumor recurrence even long after successful surgery. The project’s current goal is to
see if Dr. Rumschitzki team’s model can describe the evolution of populations of such
tumors in mice and, if so, the model with the harvested mouse parameters predicts
dormancy and recurrence in this species.

His Fulbright collaborators include Yuval Shaked of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. This is Dr. Rumschitzki’s
second major award from the U.S. government in less than a year.

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 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Dr. Roberto Ballarini Wins American
Society of Civil Engineers Raymond
Mindlin Medal
Dr. Roberto Ballarini, an alumnus of
the Department of Civil Engineering
who is currently Department Chairman
and Thomas and Laura Hsu Professor
of Civil Engineering at the University
of Houston, has been awarded the
prestigious Raymond Mindlin Medal
from the American Society of Civil
Engineers’ Engineering Mechanics Institute (ASCE-EMI)
which recognizes outstanding research contributions to
applied solid mechanics. Dr. Ballarini has been a strong
advocate of CCNY and has served on the Advisory
Board of the Civil Engineering Department since 2012.
NATIONAL RESEARCH RECOGNITION
Dr. Alexander Khanikaev Featured in
Nature Photonics and Noted by the DOE
Dr. Alexander Khanikaev, Associate
Professor of Electrical Engineering,
was featured in the journal, Nature
Photonics with his work “En-gauging
the Light”. Nature Photonics is the
highest profile journal in the field of
photonics, which presents research from
experts specifically invited by the editor.
Dr. Khanikaev’s work offers methods of confining
and manipulating localization of radiation in space
along with new applications of artificial gauge fields in
photonics. Dr. Khanikaev also designed a meta-material
that can transport sound in unusual robust ways, along
its edges and localize it at its corners. His work was also
recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy.
160 Convent Avenue, Steinman Hall
New York, NY 10031
212-650-5435 | grove@ccny.cuny.edu
CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES
During the 2018-2019 academic year, 24 brilliant
young researchers were awarded doctoral degrees.
Click here to see the complete list of the 2018-2019
Ph.D. graduates and their dissertation topics.
The Grove School’s Research Information
Series (RIS) Continues to Grow
As an effective means of increasing collaboration
among researchers from various disciplines, the
Research Information Series (RIS) was instituted in
2016. A series of lectures where faculty members
share their research and increase interaction across
disciplines are held throughout each semester. The
RIS seminars are particularly valuable to newer faculty
members who are able to get a multi-disciplinary
view of the research at GSOE, interact with school-
wide faculty and showcase their own research
accomplishments as well.
The 2019 spring semester featured the following talks
and speakers:
“WEATHER, CLIMATE, AND GLOBAL WARMING”
Dr. Nir Krakauer, Associate Professor
Civil Engineering Department
“TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION: E-COMMERCE
AND COMPLETE STREETS IN NEW YORK CITY”
Dr. Alison Conway, Associate Professor
Civil Engineering Department
“TOWARDS AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS FOR NON-
DESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE”
Dr. Jizhong Xiao, Professor
Electrical Engineering Department